House Passes K-12 Education Reauthorization Bill

The House today passed an Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization bill (aka, No Child Left Behind). H.R. 5 eliminates 70 existing federal education programs including the Teaching American History (TAH) grants program at the Education Department.

Even though Congress has not funded TAH since FY 2011, the House’s action revokes authorization for the program. The Senate version does not include such a provision.

H.R. 5 passed the House by a vote of 221-207, with 12 Republicans joining all 195 Democrats in opposing the bill. The Obama administration has already stated it would veto the bill and it has no chance of passing the Senate.

The Senate version of the ESEA bill is not expected to come to the floor until some time this fall. It would create a competitive “well-rounded education” grant fund aimed at low-income districts. S. 1094 would provide funding for history arts, music, civics, economics, health and physical education, foreign languages and other subjects. However, there would be no guaranteed funding stream and history would be competing with the other subjects for money.